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3.  C.  BIRDSONG 
RALEIGH,  N.C., 

IN  10  DAYS. 


WAKE  FOREST  STUDENT 

Vol.  XVII.  November,  1897.  No.  2. 

LITERARY  DEPARTMENT. 


THE  BATTLE  OF   SHARPSBURG— PERSONAL 
INCIDENTS.  * 

WALTER  CLARK. 

This  is  Sept.  17,  and  you  ask  me  about  the  battle  of 
Sharpsburg.  Yes,  I  was  there.  Since  then  more  than 
twice  two  hundred  months  have  passed,  but  I  remember 
it  as  if  it  were  yesterday. 

After  the  "seven  days  fights"  around  Richmond  in 
July,  1862,  when  McClellan  took  refuge  from  utter  de- 
struction in  his  gun-boats  it  was  resolved  that  we  should 
return  the  unsolicited  visit  which  had  been  made  us. 

A  few  weeks  later,  with  blare  of  bugles  and  roll  of 
drums,  we  set  our  faces  northward.  At  Cedar  Mountain 
we  crushed  the  enemy,  Chantilly  saw  our  victorious  col- 
umns and  the  field  of  Manassas  a  second  time  welcomed 
us  to  victory.     When 

"August  with  its  trailing  vines 
"Passed  out  the  gates  of  summer." 

we  were  in  full  march  for  the  Potomac,  which  was  crossed 
simultaneously  at  several  points,  the  bands  playing  "Ma- 
ryland, My  Maryland."  Walker's  division,  to  which  I 
belonged,  with  two  others  recrossed  the  Potomac  to  sur- 
round Harper's  Ferry,  while  the  rest  of  the  army,  mov- 
ing towards  Hagerstown,  was  suddenly  attacked,  and 
falling  back  the  hostile  lines  came  face  to  face  about  noon 
on    September  16,  the  Federals  lining  Antietam  creek 


*  Written  for  The  Student. 


N* 


84  The  Wake  Forest  Student. 

and  the  Confederates  holding  the  village  of  Sharpsburg, 
hence  the  double  name  of  this  famous  battle.  For  a 
similar  reason  the  great  battle  known  to  the  English 
speaking  people  the  world  around  as  Waterloo,  is  called 
the  battle  of  Mont  St.  Jean  by  the  French  and  La  Belle 
Alliance  by  Germans. 

The  battle  of  Antietam  (commonly  known  at  the  South 
as  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg),  was  one  of  the  bloodiest  of 
the  whole  Civil  War.  It  was  fought  17th  September, 
1862,  between  the  Federal  army  commanded  by  Gen. 
George  B.  McClellan,  and  the  Confederate  army  under 
Gen.  R.  E.  Lee. 

The  Federal  army  was  composed  of  six  corps:  1st 
(Hooker's),  2d  (Sumner's),  5th  (Porter's),  6th  (Frank- 
lin's), 9th  (Burnside's),  12th  (Mansfield's),  besides  Pleas- 
anton's  Cavalry  Division. 

On  the  Southern  side  were  two  corps:  Longstreet's 
and  Jackson's,  with  Stuart's  Cavalry.  The  morning 
reports  for  that  day  of  the  Federal  army  show  101,000 
"effective;"  but  Gen.  McClellan,  in  his  report  of  the 
battle,  places  his  number  of  men  in  line  at  87,000.  Gen. 
Lee,  in  his  report  simply  puts  his  force  at  "less  than  40,- 
000."  Gen.  Longstreet  estimates  them  at  37,000,  and 
Gen.  D.  H.  Hill  at  31,000.  The  best  estimate  of  num- 
bers actually  in  line  would  be  87,000  Federals  and  35,- 
000  Confederates.  Of  the  latter,  only  25,000  were  in 
hand  when  the  battle  opened.  The  arrival  of  the  divi- 
sions of  McLaws  and  A.  P.  Hill  from  Harper's  Ferry 
during  the  battle,  raised  Lee's  total  to  35,000;  over  a 
fourth  of  these  were  from  North  Carolina,  which  had 
thirty-two  regiments  and  three  batteries  there. 

The  battle  was  fought  in  a  bend  of  the  Potomac  River, 
the  town  of  Sharpsburg,  Md.,  being  the  centre  of  the 
Southern  line  of  battle,  whose  right  flank  rested  on  the  An- 


The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg. 


85 


tietam  Creek,  just  above  where  it  flows  into  the  Potomac, 
and  the  left  flank  on  the  Potomac  higher  up.  Gen.  Lee 
had  braved  all  rules  of  strategy  by  dividing  his  army  in 
the  presence  of  an  enemy  double  his  numbers.  He  had 
sent  Jackson,  with  nearly  half  the  army,  to  the  south  side 
of  the  Potomac  to  invest  Harpers's  Ferry,  while  with  the 
other  part  of  the  army  he  himself  advanced  on  Hagers- 
town.  Gen.  McClellan,  who  slowly  and  with  caution 
was  following  Lee's  movements,  found  at  Frederick, 
Md. ,  a  dispatch  from  Lee  to  Gen.  D.  H.  Hill,  which  had 
been  dropped  in  the  latter's  encampment.  This  dis- 
closed to  him  Lee's  entire  plan  of  campaign  and  the  di- 
vision of  his  army.  With  more  than  his  usual  prompt- 
ness, McClellan  threw  himself,  (on  September  14),  upon 
Turner's  (Boonsboro)  and  Crampton's  Gaps.  These  were 
stubbornly  held  till  next  day,    when  Lee  fell  back  to 


SHARPSBURG  AND  VICINITY. 


86 


The  Wake  Forest  Student. 


Sharpsburg.  Fortunately  for  Lee,  Harper's  Ferry  sur- 
rendered with  12,000  prisoners  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  15th,  releasing  the  beseiging  force.  Of  these,  Walk- 
er's Division,  with  Jackson  himself,  rejoined  Lee  north  of 
the  Potomac,  at  Sharpsburg,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  16th. 
McLaws  and  A.  P.  Hill  joined  him  there  during  the  bat- 
tie  ou  the  17th — McLaws  at  9  a.  m.,  and  A\  P.  Hill  at 
3  p.  m. — and  each  just  in  time  to  prevent  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  army.  With  87,000  men  in  line,  as  against 
Lee's  35,000,  Gen.  McClellan  should  have  captured  the 
Confederate  army,  for  fighting  with  the  river  at  its  back 
any  disaster  could  not  have  been  retrieved.  Besides,  till 
9  a.  m.  Lee  had  only  25,000  men, and  this  number  was 
not  finally  raised  to  35,000  till  the  arrival  of  A.  P.  Hill 
after  3  p.  m.  There  were  no  breastworks  and  neither 
time  nor  opportunity  to  make  any.  Gen.  McClellan  was 
an  excellent  General,  but  his  over-caution  saved  Lee's 
army.  He  greatly  overestimated  the  numbers  opposed 
to  him.  He  telegraphed  to  President  Lincoln  during  tl}e 
battle  that  Lee  had  95,000  men.  Had  he  known  that  in 
truth  Lee  had  only  25,000  men  when  the  battle  opened, 
the  history  of  the  war  and  Gen.  McClellau's  fortunes 
would  have  been  essentially  different.  During  the  bat- 
tle Gen.  McClellan  telegraphed  President  Lincoln  "one 
of  the  greatest,  and  probably  the  greatest  battle,  in  all 
history  is  now  in  progress." 

This  much  has  been  said  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the 
"situation"  before  and  during  the  battle.  I  was  Adju- 
tant of  35th  N.  C.  Regiment  commanded  by  Col.  M.  W. 
Ransom  (afterwards  Brigadier  General  and  U.  S.  Sena- 
tor). The  brigade  was  commanded  by  his  brother,  Gen. 
Robert  Ransom,  a  West  Pointer,  and  hence  a  personal 
acquaintance  of  most  of  the  Federal  leaders.     The  divi- 


The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg.  87 

sion  was  commanded  by  Gen.  John  G.  Walker,  another 
old  army  officer.  We  were  at  the  taking  of  Harper's 
Ferry,  where  our  division  held  Loudon  Heights,  and  we 
were  the  first  to  recross  the  Potomac  and  join  Gen.  L,ee  at 
Sharpsburg,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  16th. 

I  was  then  a  mere  boy,  just  sixteen  a  few  days  before, 
and  have  vivid  recollections  of  the  events  of  the  day. 
About  an  hour  before  day,  on  the  17th,  our  division  be- 
gan its  march  for  the  position  assigned  us  on  the  extreme 
right,  where  we  were  to  oppose  the  Federals  in  any  at- 
tempt to  cross  either  the  bridge  (since  known  as  Burn- 
side's)  or  the  ford  over  the  Antietam  below  it,  near 
Shiveley's  Along  onr  route  we  met  men,  women  and 
children  coining  out  from  Sharpsburg,  and  from  the  farm 
houses  near  by.  They  were  carrying  such  of  their  house- 
hold belongings  as  were  portable  ;  many  women  were 
weeping.  This,  and  the  little  children  leaving  their 
homes,  made  a  moving  picture  in  "the  dawn's  early 
light."  On  taking  position,  we  immediately  tore  down 
the  fences  in  our  front  which  might  obstruct  the  line  of 
fire.  About  9  a.  m.  a  pressing  order  came  to  move  to 
the  left;  this  we  did  in  quick  time.  As  we  were  leaving 
our  ground,  I  remember  looking  up  the  Antietam,  the 
opposite  bank  of  which  was  lined  with  Federal  batteries. 
These  were  firing  at  the  left  wing  of  our  army  to  the  sup- 
port of  which  we  were  moving.  The  Federal  gunners 
could  be  seen  with  the  utmost  distinctness  as  they  loaded 
and  fired.  Moving  northwards,  we  were  passing  in  rear  of 
our  line  of  battle  and  met  constant  streams  of  the  wounded 
coming  out.  Among  them  I  remember  meeting  Col.  W. 
L.  DeRosset,  of  the  3rd  North  Carolina,  being  brought 
out  badly  wounded,  and  many  others  well  known  in 
North  Carolina. 


88 


The  Wake  Forest  Student. 


All  this  time  there  was  the  steady  booming  of  the 
cannon,  the  whistling  of  shells,  the  pattering  of  fire- 
arms, and  the  occasional  yell  or  cheer  rising  above  the 
roar  of  battle  as  sotne; advantage  was  gained  by  either 


BATTLE-FIELD   OF   SHARPSBURG. 


side.  Soon  after  passing  the  town  the  division  was  de- 
ployed in  column  of  regiments.  Around  and  just  be- 
yond the  Dunker  church,  in  the  centre  of  the  Confeder- 
ate left,  our  line  had  been  broken  and  was  completely 
swept  away.  A  flood  of  Federals  were  pouring  in;  we 
were  just  in  time — ten  minutes',  five  minutes'  delay,  and 


The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg.  89 

our  army  would  have  ceased  to  exist.  We  were  march- 
ing up  behind  our  line  of  battle,  with  our  right  flank 
perpendicular  to  it.  As  the  first  regiment  got  opposite 
to  the  break  in  our  lines  it  made  a  wheel  to  the  right 
and  "went  in."  The  next  regiment,  marching  straight 
on,  as  soon  as  it  cleared  the  left  of  the  regiment  preced- 
ing it,  likewise  wheeled  to  the  right  and  took  its  place 
in  line,  and  so  on  in  succession.  That  is,  we  were  march- 
ing north,  and  thus  were  successively  thrown  into  line 
of  battle  facing  east.  As  these  regiments  came  succes- 
sively into  line  they  struck  the  Federal  lines  which  were 
advancing  ;  the  crash  was  deafening.  The  sound  of  in- 
fantry firing  at  short  distance  can  be  likened  to  nothing 
so  much  as  the  dropping  of  a  shower  of  hail-stones  on 
an  enormous  tin  roof.  My  regiment  wheeled  to  the  right 
about  150  yards  north  (and  west)  of  the  Dunker  church. 
In  the  wheel  we  passed  a  large  baru,  which  is  still  stand- 
ing, and  entered  the  "West  Woods."  Being  a  mounted 
officer,  I  had  a  full  view;  our  men  soon  drove  the  Federals 
back  to  the  eastern  edge  of  these  woods,  where  the  enemy 
halted  to  receive  us.  The  West  Woods  had  already  been 
twice  fought  over  that  morning;  the  dead  and  wounded 
lay  thicker  than  I  have  ever  seen  on  a  battle-field  since. 
On  the  eastern  edge  of  these  woods  the  lines  of  battle 
came  close  together  and  the  shock  was  terrific;  here 
Capt.  Walter  Bryson  of  our  regiment  was  killed,  along 
with  many  others  in  the  Brigade.  All  the  mounted  officers 
in  the  division  instantly  dismounted,  turning  their  horses 
loose  to  gallop  to  the  rear.  It  being  the  first  time  I  had 
been  so  suddenly  thrown  in  contact  with  a  line  of  battle, 
and  not  noticing,  in  the  smoke  and  uproar,  that  the  others 
had  dismounted,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  stick  to  my 
horse;  in  another  moment,  when  the  smoke  would  have 


90  The  Wake  Forest  Student. 

lifted  (so  the  Federal  line  of  battle,  lying  down  fifty  yards 
off,  could  have  seen  me)  I  should  have  been  taken  for  a 
general  officer  and  would  have  been  swept  out  of  my  saddle 
by  a  hundred  bullets.  A  kind-hearted  veteran  close  by 
peremptorily  pulled  me  off  my  horse.  At  that  instant  a 
minnie  ball,  whistling  over  the  just  emptied  saddle,  struck 
the  back  of  my  left  hand  which  was  still  clinging  to  the 
pommel,  leaving  a  slight  scar  which  I  still  carry  as  a  me- 
mento. The  Federal  line  soon  fell  back.  It  was  Gor- 
man's Brigade,  Sedgwick's  Division,  of  Sumner's  Corps 
our  brigade  was  fighting,  This  was  composed  of  troops 
from  Massachusetts,  New  York  and  Minnesota,  and  from 
their  returns  they  left  750  killed  and  wounded  by  our  fire; 
this  was  about  10  a.  m.  A  terriffic  shelling  by  the  enemy 
followed,  which  was  kept  up  for  many  hours,  with  occa- 
sional brief  intermissions,  caused  probably  by  a  wish  to 
let  the  pieces  cool.  The  shelling  was  terrible,  but  owing 
to  protection  from  the  slope  of  the  hill,  and  there  being 
a  limestone  ledge  somewhat  sheltering  our  line,  the  loss 
from  the  artillery  fire  was  small. 

In  the  brief  intermission,  after  the  Federal  infantry 
had  fallen  back  and  before  the  artillery  opened,  I  heard 
a  cry  for  help,  and  going  out  in  front  of  our  line,  found 
the  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  a  Massachusetts  regiment — 
Francis  Winthrop  Palfrey,  lying  on  the  ground  wounded, 
and  brought  him  into  our  lines.  With  some  reluctance 
he  surrendered  his  very  handsome  sword  and  pistol  and 
was  sent  to  the  rear.  The  sword  bore  an  inscription 
that  it  had  been  presented  to  him  by  the  town  of  Con- 
cord, Mass.  He  remarked  at  the  time,  he  wished  them 
preserved,  and  sure  enough,  after  the  war  he  wrote  for 
them,  and  they  were  restored;  he  was  exchanged  and  be- 
came subsequently  General  Palfrey.  He  has  published  a 
volume,  "  Antietam  and  Fredericksburg." 


The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg.  91 

There  was  another  intermission  in  the  shelling  about 
13  o'clock,  when  we  were  charged  by  the  2d  Massachu- 
setts and  13th  New  Jersey  of  Gordon's  Brigade,  who 
advanced  as  far  as  the  post  and  rail  fence  at  the  Hagers- 
town  turnpike,  about  100  yards  in  our  front,  but  were 
broken  there  and  driven  back,  leaving  many  dead  and 
wounded.  There  was  another  iu  termission  about  2  o'clock 
probably.  Word  was  then  brought  us  that  we  were  to 
advance.  It  was  then  that  Stonewall  Jackson  came  along 
our  lines;  his  appearance  has  been  so  often  described  that 
I  will  only  say  that  I  was  reminded  of  what  the  Federal 
prisoners  had  said  two  days  before  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
when  he  rode  down  among  them  from  his  post  on  Bolivar 
Heights:  "My!  boys,  he  ain't  much  on  looks,  but  if  we 
had  had  him,  we  wouldn't  have  been  in  this  fix."  Stone- 
wall remarked  to  Colonel  Ransom,  as  he  did  to  the  other 
Colonels  along  the  line,  that  with  Stuart's  cavalry  and 
some  infantry  he  was  going  around  the  Federal  right  and 
get  in  their  rear,  and  added  "when  you  hear  the  rattle 
of  my  small  arms  this  whole  line  must  advance.''  He 
wished  to  ascertain  the  force  opposed,  and  a  man  of  our 
regiment  named  Hood  was  sent  up  a  tall  tree,  which  he 
climbed  carefully  to  avoid  observation  by  the  enemy; 
Stonewall  called  out  to  know  how  many  Yankees  he 
could  see  over  the  hill  and  beyond  the  "East  Woods," 
Hood  replied,  "Who-e-e!  there  are  oceans  of  them,  Gen- 
eral." "Count  their  flags,"  said  Jackson  sternly,  who 
wished  more  definite  information.  This  Hood  proceeded 
to  do  until  he  had  counted  thirty-nine,  when  the  General 
told  him  that  would  do  and  to  come  down.  By  reason 
of  this  and  other  information  he  got,  the  turning  move- 
ment was  not  attempted,  and  it  was  probably  fortunate 
for  us  that  it  was  not. 


92  Thk  Wake  Forest  Student. 

During  the  same  lull,  our  Brigadier-General  (Robert 
Ransom)  received  a  flag  of  truce  which  had  been  sent 
to  remove  some  wounded  officers,  and  by  it  sent  his  love 
to  Gen.  Hartsuff(if  I  remember  aright),  who  had  been 
his  room-mate  at  West  Point;  but  HartsufF,  as  it  hap- 
pened, had  been  wounded  and  had  left  the  field.  Soon 
after  our  regiment  was  moved  laterally  a  short  distance 
to  the  right,  and  we  charged  a  piece  of  artillery  which 
had  been  put  in  position  near  the  Dunker  church;  we 
killed  the  men  and  horses,  but  did  not  bring  off  the  artil- 
lery, as  we  were  ourselves  swept  by  artillery  on  our  left 
posted  in  the  "old  corn-field." 

About  3  p.  m.  Burnside  on  our  right  (the  Federal  left) 
advanced,  having  crossed  the  bridge  about  i  p.  rn. ,  un- 
til which  hour  his  two  corps  had  been  kept  from  crossing 
the  bridge  by  Toombs'  brigade  of  400  men.  Though 
it  crossed  at  1  p.  m.,  Burnside's  corps  unaccountably  did 
not  advance  till  3  p.  m.  Then  advancing  over  the  ground 
which  had  been  abandoned  by  our  division  early  that 
morning,  utter  disaster  to  our  army  was  imminent.  Just 
then  A.  P.  Hill's  division  arrived  from  Harper's  Ferry, 
where  it  had  been  parolling  prisoners.  A  delay  of  ten 
minutes  by  Hill  would  have  lost  us  the  army;  as  it  was, 
the  division  arrived  just  in  time.  The  roll  of  musketry 
was  continuous  till  nightfall  and  Burnside  was  driven 
back  to  the  Antietam.  Here  General  Branch  of  North 
Carolina  was  killed ;  General  Anderson  and  Colonel  Tew 
had  fallen  early  in  the  morning  at  the  "Bloody  Lane," 
near  our  centre,  and  from  whith  their  commands  had 
been  driven  back.  About  dark  our  brigade  was  moved 
to  the  right  a  half-mile,  and  bivouacked  for  the  night 
around  Reel's  house  near  a  burning  barn.  As  we  were 
moving  by  the  right  flank,  we  were  seen  by  the  Fed- 


The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg.  93 

eral  signal  station  on  the  high  hills  on  the  east  bank  of 
the  Antietam.  A  shell  sent  by  signal  fell  in  the  rear 
company  of  the  49th  N.  C.  Regiment,  just  ahead  of  us, 
killing  Lieut.  Greenlea  Fleming  and  killing  and  wound- 
ing sixteen  men.  It  rained  all  next  day.  We  were 
moved  back  that  morning  to  our  old  position  north  of 
the  Dunker  church;  neither  army  advanced.  That  night 
our  whole  army  quietly  moved  off  and  crossed  the  Po- 
tomac, the  passage  of  the  river  being  lighted  up  by 
torches  held  by  men  stationed  in  the  river  on  horseback. 
The  army  came  off  safely  without  arousing  the  Federal 
army,  and  left  not  a  cannon  nor  a  wagon  behind  us.  On 
the  19th  Fitz  John  Porter's  corps  attempted  to  follow  us 
across  the  river  at  Sheperdstown,  and  was  driven  back 
with  disastrous  loss. 

During  the  battle  of  the  17th,  McClellan's  headquar- 
ters were  across  the  Antietam  at  the  Fry  house.  There 
he  had  his  large  spy-glasses  strapped  to  moveable  frames, 
and  could  take  in  the  whole  battle-field;  besides,  from 
his  signal  station  on  the  high  hills,  which  border  the 
Antietam  on  the  east  side,  he  could  learn  all  the  move- 
ments of  our  army.  With  this  advantage  and  his  great 
preponderance  of  numbers,  87,000  to  101,000  as  against 
our  35,000  to  40,000,  (giving  the  margin  to  each  allowed 
by  the  official  reports),  it  is  clear  that  he  should  have 
captured  Lee.  The  latter  had  committed  a  grave  mili- 
tary fault  by  dividing  his  army  by  a  river  and  many 
miles  of  interval  in  the  presence  of  an  enemy  greatly  his 
superior  in  numbers.  Besides,  he  ought  not  to  have 
fought  north  of  the  Potomac.  Lee  was  saved  from  the 
consequences  of  his  boldness  by  the  opposite  quality  of 
over-caution  in  McClellan;  the  latter  erroneously  esti- 
mated Lee's  force  at  95,000,  when  it  was  a  little  more 


94  The  Wake  Forest  Student. 

than  one-fourth  of  that  number  at  the  time  the  battle 
opened.  Then,  when  the  Federals  fought  it  was  done 
in  detail.  At  daybreak  Hooker's  corps  went  in;  he  was 
wounded,  and  his  corps  badly  cut  up  and  scattered.  Then 
Mansfield  with  the  12th  corps  came  on;  he  was  killed 
and  his  corps  was  driven  out.  Then  Sumner's  corps 
wras  launched  at  us  and  came  on  in  good  stylev;  it  broke 
our  line,  and  was  only  driven  back  by  fresh  troops — 
Walker's  division  taken  from  the  right,  as  above  stated, 
and  by  McLaws  division,  just  arrived  from  Harper's 
Ferry.  Sumner's  corps  was  driven  back  but  fought  well, 
as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  their  losses  which,  were  over 
5,000,  were  more  than  double  that  of  any  other  corps. 
When  they  went  back  Frankliu's  corps  came  up,  but  had 
small  opportunity,  as  is  shown  by  their  loss  of  less  than 
500  in  the  whole  battle.  By  11  o'clock  the  battle  on 
the  left  wing  was  practically  over,  except  by  artillery; 
on  the  other  wing  at  1  p.  m.  Burnside's  corps  crossed 
the  Antietam  over  the  bridge,  but  his  corps  did  not  move 
forward  till  3  p.  m,  at  which  instant  A.  P.  Hill's  divi- 
sion, arriving  from  parolling  prisoners  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
met  and  overthrew  it.  The  other  corps  (Fitz  John  Por- 
ter's) was  in  reserve  and  did  not  fire  a  gun,  except  some 
detachments  sent  to  other  commands  during  the  battle. 
With  six  corps  the  weight  of  McClellan's  fighting  at  an5T 
moment  was  that  of  one  corps  only.  Had  he,  with  Na- 
poleonic vigor,  dropped  his  four  corps — full  60,000  men 
— simultaneously  on  our  thin  left  wing  of  15,000  men 
like  a  massive  trip  hammer,  it  must  have  shattered  it. 
Had  he  moved  his  other  two  corps  of  30,000  at  the  same 
moment  in  rear  of  our  right,  the  fight  would  have  been 
over  by  9  a.  m.,  and  Appomattox  would  have  been  ante- 
dated two  years  and  a  half.      The  star  of  the  Confederacy 


The  Battle  of  Sharpsburg.  95 

would  have  set  in  night,  and  Sharpsburg  might  have 
taken  its  place  in  the  history  of  our  race  by  the  side  of 
Hastings  and  Flodden.  The  loss  of  that  array,  with 
Lee,  Jackson  and  the  other  Generals  there,  would  have 
been  fatal.  We  know  what  happened  when  the  same 
glorious  army,  even  with  smaller  numbers,  disappeared 
at  Appomattox.  From  this  fate  the  leadership  of  our 
Generals  and  the  superb  valor  of  our  soldiers  could  not 
have  saved  us,  had  not  McClellan  singularly  overrated 
our  numbers.  But  he  should  have  known  that  if  L,ee 
and  Jacksou  had  really  had  95,000  men  they  would  not 
have  waited  for  him  to  attack;  they  would  have  taken 
possession  of  his  army. 

Thirty-five  years  after  the  event  it  is  hard  to  realize 
the  misapprehension  which  then  existed  in  the  minds  of 
others  as  well  as  Gen.  McClellan  as  to  the  size  of  L,ee's 
army.  As  an  example,  read  the  following  (copied  from 
the  Official  Rebellion  Records)  from  the  war  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  Andrew  G.  Curtin: 

"  Harrisbtjrg,  Pa.,  Sept.  11,  1862. 
'  iHis  Excellency  the  President. 

*  *  "You  should  order  a  strong  guard  placed  upon 
the  railway  line  from  Washington  to  Harrisburg  to-night, 
and  send  here  not  less  than  80,000  disciplined  forces,  and 
order  from  New  York  and  States  east  all  available  forces 
to  concentrate  here  at  once.  To  this  we  will  add  all  the 
militia  forces  possible,  and  I  think  that  in  a  few  days  we 
can  muster  50,000  men.  It  is  our  only  hope  to  save  the 
North  and  crush  the  rebel  army.  *  *  *  The  enemy 
will  bring  against  us  not  less  than  120,000,  with  large 
amount  of  artillery.  The  time  for  decided  action  by  the 
National  Government  has  arrived.  What  may  we  ex- 
pect? "A.  G.  Curtin." 


96  The  Wake  Forest  Student. 

To  this  President  Lincoln  very  sensibly  replied: 
(t  *  *  If  I  should  start  half  of  our  forces  to  Harris- 
burg,  the  enemy  will  turn  upon  and  beat  the  remaining 
half  and  then  reach  Harrisburg  before  the  part  going 
there,  and  beat  it  too  when  it  comes.  The  best  possible 
security  for  Pennsylvania  is  putting  the  strongest  force 
possible  into  the  enemy's  rear, 

"Sept.  12,  1862.  "A.  Lincoln." 

The  same  day  (Sept.  12),  Gov.  Curtin  telegraphs  the 
President  that  he  has  reliable  information  as  to  the  rebel 
movements  and  intentions,  which  he  details,  and  says: 
"Their  force  in  Maryland  is  about  190,000  men.  They 
have  in  Virginia  about  250,000  more,  all  of  whom  are 
being  concentrated  to  menace  Washington  and  keep  ,the 
Union  armies  employed  there  while  their  forces  in  Mary- 
land devastate  and  destroy  Pennsylvania." 

In  fact,  as  we  now  know  from  the  "Rebellion  Records," 
Lee,  by  reason  of  his  losses  at  Second  Manassas  and  from 
sickness  and  straggling,  had  only  about  40,000  men  in 
Maryland,  and  there  were  probably  10,000  more  in  Vir- 
ginia and  around  Richmond,  a  total  of  50,000  effective, 
while  opposed  to  them  was  McClellan  immediately  in 
front  with  an  army  of  101,000  "effective,"  12,000  more 
Federals  (afterwards  captured)  were  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
73,000  "effective,  fit  for  duty"  were  in  the  intrench- 
ments  round  Washington,  10,000  under  Gen.  Wool  at 
Baltimore — total,  by  morning  reports,  of  195,000  effec- 
tive, besides  the  Federal  and  State  troops  under  arms  in 
Pennsylvania. 

Such  are  the  illusions  and  confusion  which  disturb 
even  the  clearest  minds  under  such  circumstances. 

Singularly  enough,  too,   Gen.  McClellan  gave  as  his 


To  a  Maiden  with  a  Guitar.  97 

reason  for  not  putting  in  Fitz  John  Porter's  corps  and 
righting  on  the  18th,  that  it  was  the  only  force  that  stood 
intact  between  the  Capital  and  possible  disaster.  Yet  on 
that  day  73,000  other  soldiers  were  behind  the  ramparts 
around  Washington.  The  publication  of  the  "Rebel- 
lion Records"  has  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on  the  history 
of  those  times. 
Raleigh,  N.  C,  17th  Sept.,  1897. 


TO  A  MAIDEN  WITH  A  GUITAR. 

J.    C.    M. 

0  Maiden,  singing  at  the  moonlight  hour, 
Silently  I  worship  at  thy  feet. 

All  joy,  all  beauty,  passion,  love,  and  power 
Within  thy  music  meet. 

1  worship;  for  my  soul, — a  breath  of  God, — 

Is  like  a  wanderer  returning  home, 
Returning  to  his  childhood's  glad  abode, 

And  sad  that  soon  again  his  steps  must  roam. 

All  nature  loves  to  hear  thy  simple  lay  : 

The  grass,  the  trees,  with  every  darksome  bough, 

Wherein  a  thousand  insects  were  at  play, 
Stand  wrapt  in  solemn  silence  now. 

Not  in  the  blaring  horn,  nor  blaze  of  light, 
Nor  on  the  polished  floor  for  twinkling  feet, 

But  in  this  still,  small  voice,  this  quiet  might, 
God  and  His  creatures  meet. 


98 


The  Wake  Forest  Student. 


A  HOLIDAY  IN  FRANCE. 


J.    H.   GORREW.. 


The  early  summer  of  the  year  1789  was  the  beginning 
of  stirring  times  in  France.  The  oppressed  people  had 
determined  no  longer  to  bear  the  galling  yoke  of  Bour- 
bonism,  and  were  coming  to  a  realization  of  their  power; 
the  new  and  incompetent  monarch  had  made  his  first 
concession  by  calling  together  the  States-General,  which 
in  a  short  time  was  changed  into  the  National  Assembly, 
and  set  about  remedying  the  abuses  of  the  crown.  A 
national  guard  had  been  instituted  for  the  French  capi- 
tal; then  the  populace,  conscious  of  a  new  might,  rose 
as  one  man  to  throw  off  their  ancient  shackles,  and  with 
the  cry,  "To  the  Bastille!"  rushed  to  the  old  prison 
which  for  centuries  had  frowned  down  upon  a  servile 
people.  There  was  no  resisting  those  infuriated  French- 
men; the  defenders  were  destroyed,  the  prisoners  liber- 
ated, eager  hands  tore  away  stones  and  gates  and  iron 
bars,  and  the  Bastille  was  levelled  to  the  ground, — the 
French  Revolution  had  begun. 

To  the<  patriotic  Frenchman,  therefore,  with  his  love 
of  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity,  there  is  no  day  more 
sacred  than  the  fourteenth  of  July,  the  anniversary  of 
the  destruction  of  the  Bastille. 

Among  the  most  pleasant  memories  of  a  summer 
spent  in  Paris  are  the  novel  scenes  of  the  French  na- 
tional holiday.  For  days  previous  workman  were  put- 
ting up  tall  green  posts  around  the  principal  squares,  and 
suspending  between  them  all  kinds  of  gay  lanterns;  gas- 
workers  were  arranging  illuminating  apparatus  about 
the  many    public   buildings,    and   the  tri-color,   in  the 


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